Wednesday, July 25, 2012

No New Things...

We're trying to live more simply. We got rid of tons of stuff when we moved earlier this month. We are trying really really hard not to buy any new stuff to fill up our new house. It's so nice having all our uncluttered space, and barely needing to move a thing when dusting, sweeping and cleaning in general.

But we have a quarter acre lot, and that means we need lawn tools. Living in a condo before meant we had nothing as far as lawn equipment was concerned, and we'd be starting from scratch.

Papa Bear and I did some soul searching and some reading, and we set a goal to not buy anything new if we can help it (except underwear and toothbrushes, for obvious reasons). We'd like to be less wasteful, both with our money and with our material possessions. Why go out and buy a brand new x, y, or z when there's a perfectly functional used one somewhere out there. It not only keeps used items out of landfills, it also supports small local businesses and families instead of big box stores. And it saves us money. Triple win!

We put our goal to the test and started perusing Craiglist for the things we wanted. We found plenty of listings that were already sold, which really frustrated me as I'm an instant gratification type of gal. But with patience we found exactly what we were looking for at a great price from people right in our neighborhood.

We got this entire set of tools from a family just a few streets away from us. I'll compare our purchase price to an estimated new price. I'm Googling the "new" prices for each item and using the least expensive price I find.

Then we found all the following tools from a recycling center we found on Craigslist located in the next town. Again, I'm Googling the "new" prices for all these and using the LEAST expensive price I find.

Black and Decker Hedge Trimmer

new- $55

Black and Decker Leaf Blower/Vaccum

new- $72

Snap and Go Weed Eater

new- $30

Black and Decker Edger

new- $89

Homelite Cordless Electric Mower

new- $349

Scott Push Mower

new- $105

Josh insisted we get this, much to Papa Bear's head shaking. He loves it though, and has spent the last three days mowing for fun!

Total New- $700Our Price- $100Saving- $600

They originally had each item listed separately, but since we bought them all at once they gave us an awesome package deal. The only down side was we had to make a second trip because the electric mower didn't fit along with everything else the first time.

I'm so excited we were able to get EVERYTHING for taking care of our lawn in one weekend, and for only $140. Truly amazing. Bonus points- Everything is electric. No gas, no oil, no gas can sitting in the garage. Extra bonus points- Our electricity plan is 100% wind power, so I feel pretty good about that too.